This week I learned about the specifics of personal development plans and the importance of creative CVs. Firstly, LEGO. We were given identical bags of LEGO pieces and were asked to build something and explain how it could relate to our future career. I really liked this task because it allowed us to look in an abstract way at how we see
ourselves in 5 years time. I built a sort of bulky hovercraft/boat (see figure 1) and it was kind of inspired by the idea of travelling with work and being able to work on the go. I really like the idea of being able to work anywhere in the future, which is very plausible in the creative industry. This is an interesting task because whilst allowing us to be creative literally, it allowed us to get creative in our future planning which is always good.
We then moved onto a more literal self-assessment task in which we looked at our
personal and professional lives and what elements make up those aspects and forming a circular shape which can be seen in figure 2. We then ranked them using dots to create see what aspects can be improved in our lives to help the shape be more well rounded and this can be used to inform what we put on the personal development plan. In this exercise I learned that I need to improve my networks, clients and hobbies. My personal life is definitely the stronger of the two sides. but overall there is nothing too drastically bad on it but definitely some areas for me to improve.
Finally, we looked at creative CVs, so this is something I have already looked at in the professional practice unit last year but it was good to look at again because there’s always room to update and improve your CV. I think for me, one year on it is important for me to look through it again and update it how I’m feeling now and where I see myself in 5 years.
difficult to know how and what to register officially. In freelancing it turns out, unless otherwise specified in a contract, the freelancer owns the intellectual property they create for a client. Regardless of commission or any money, intellectual property solely belongs to the freelancer. For me this is very encouraging to find out about because it is no secret that freelancing is insecure as a career path, but to find out that I still own the media I create is really good. This rule does not apply if you’re employed by someone or even if you are in education however. Employers and universities will have IP policy which may state that they own any intellectual property created by you.
the channel ‘
community tab, as the name suggests, allows them to interact and get feedback from their audience. What FilmJoy gets right is their interaction with the audience, attention to detail in the videos they make and also they have really good thumbnails which doesn’t hurt.
The second channel I would like to talk about is ‘
This week I started designing my webpage which will house my portfolio as well as a link to my blog and just a general profile about me. I have pre-emptively looked up domains names that are available, ideally I would like shmedia.co.uk but it wasn’t available however samhayward.co.uk is available at just under £20 for the first three years, and will renew at £11.99 a year after that. I am going to hold off from buying it right now because I’m not entirely sure how they work. But anyway back to the design. Like for everything that represents my online identity, it needed to be consistent with everything whilst also having it’s own aesthetic. I started with a plain white artboard which was the size ‘most 
common webpage’ on Photoshop. I added a grey header which would house my navigation; speaking of which, started with having the pages being different mediums such as photography, videography, and audio but I eventually changed it to be just: home, portfolio, radio, blog, contact. I gave radio it’s own page because it is what I’m most passionate about and thought it deserved it’s own page as a result. The home page is still a work in progress but will be home to my about me section, and as it stands all the pages will have my picture in the background because I think it looks good and creates a point of interest. Next week I want to continue designing each page on photoshop if not start moving the elements over to Adobe Xd.
radio producer as their profession on their profile. I stumbled across Warren Hayden’s profile who has 16 years’ experience at the top of the radio industry working for Heart and BBC Radio Solent. His profile was a valuable resource for me as I got to see what information he has made publicly available and how I could replicate that in my profile. His ‘activity’ tab on his page showed me that he actively likes and shares posts that he is involved in or just general radio industry posts and this will show employers he is showing an active interest in the industry he is in.
recommendations from previous employers which can be really useful when trying to break into the media industry because endorsements and written recommendations will really stand out to employers.
This week I filled out a questionnaire regarding my employability which questioned skills such as networking, positivity and digital literacy. Initially I felt like I answered the quiz truthfully however after reflecting on my results and where they should be by the end of the year I think I over-graded myself in several areas such as goal setting which is at 83% but I think should be around 60% at this stage.
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